To Live Again
by Daggergal
Summary: Kurogane was just an aggressive high school senior, until one day he bumped his head, tripped, and fell into another universe where all the beasts of legend live. Meeting with a vampire named Fai can they save each other or are they doomed to die.
1. Prologue: To Meet Nevermore

Title: To Live Again

Author: Daggergal

Summary: Kurogane was just an aggressive high school senior, until one day he bumped his head, tripped, and fell into another universe where all the beasts of legend live. Meeting with a vampire named Fai can they save each other or are they doomed to die.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything but if I did I would share it with all of you! -

Prologue: To Meet Nevermore

Kurogane was just an aggressive high school senior. He never really paid any attention in class and he was failing everything but gym and classic literature. Go figure, a jock that liked to read old books like 'Pride and Prejudice', 'Sense and Sensibility', and 'A Mid-Summer Night's Dream'. It's not that he was dumb or anything it's just that he had no motivation. The only thing that could grasp his attention more than sports was the way that authors in the yesteryear used words to paint a delicate and detailed canvas of a story. He loved that old time way of talking. He loved the colorful landscape of metaphors with no obvious similes in sight. The way you could feel the author pouring his soul into his work, unlike nowadays when everything is about the money and the beauty of the painting of words is lost; crippled but the greed and lust for power and glory.

With is curt temperament and lost tolerance Kurogane had no one who he truly considered and friend and vise-versa. So when he wasn't sleeping in class or at some meeting for one sport or another (being on various teams) he was reading a book, or perhaps two at once, depending on his mood.

He existed. He breathed and walked and thought and ate and slept, but he never really lived. At least since he was a freshman and his parents divorced. After that he stayed to live with his mother. Then three months into the second semester she caught ill and died. Turning to is father he realized that the man he knew had long since died within and a demon had taken shelter in his skin. With nowhere left to turn to he learned the hard way that in the world you must rely on yourself.

He got two part time jobs and continued going to school, forging his mother's signature when necessary. Sure the school and local jobs had caught wind of her death but they didn't have the heart to turn him down knowing damn well he was truly on his own. He existed alone, with no one to lean on. (He became a stone, solid and rough on the outside but with something much more precious within. But he would soon be cracked.

Today was Wednesday, the exact middle of the week. Kurogane awoke believing it was like any other Wednesday but he was mistaken. Today on this most auspicious of Wednesdays he would find himself cast into a strange world, with strange creatures and even stranger feelings. Today, on this Wednesday the fates lined up to show him that even a once hollowed man can live again.

A/N: well what do you think? This is total crack writing that came to me at midnight and is now being written down at … 2:00am so if it seems weird… that's because it was written at 2 am with no beta. If someone would be so kind as to beta for me I would love them FOREVER!!! The plus is you get to read the story early. If you want to then PM me for more info. (like if the job is taken or my e-mail or something)


	2. Chapter 1 With Gently Smiling Jaws

Chapter 1: With Gently Smiling Jaws

Today was Wednesday. Kurogane awoke assuming that today was a normal day. If he only knew then, he might have stayed in bed, but, well, then this story would never have happened and what good is a story that never happened to begin with? Besides, Kurogane was clueless as to the events that would unfold this day, and got ready for school as usual.

He took his shower, brushed his teeth, made breakfast (pancakes to be exact,) and got dressed in black jeans and a plain black T-shirt. When he was gathering up his books for school he paused at his bookshelf of old novels. From this he selected 'Dracula' by Bram Stoker, 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, and Through the Looking-Glass' by Lewis Carroll. He did this because he knew that he had no team meeting at lunch today and would be terribly bored.

With that he took the lunch he had prepared the night before out of the refrigerator, put it into his plain black messenger bag-type backpack, and hurried out the door to school.

He never took the bus. To keep in shape he jogged to school every morning, and he was always early. But as aforementioned today was not as average a Wednesday as it seemed, and the path Kurogane usually took was blocked. Forced to change his route, Kurogane entered the school gates just in time to hear the bell, letting everyone start going to their lockers and classrooms.

"Shit." Kurogane cursed under his breath as he adjusted the strap of his backpack and started a full out run to the entrance nearest his locker, which just happened to be near the principal's office I n the back of the school.

So he ran as fast as he could manage without all-out sprinting, and just as he was passing the old maple tree close to the door he needed to go to, something happened.

He rounded the maple tree's trunk, directly into a person. Or at least, he thought it was a person. It had a person's shape. But, well, in all honesty, when he crashed into this 'person' he ended up tripping over them, his bag flying up into the air. He fell right into the tree's large roots, his things scattering around him. He was dazed for a few moments, and when he could finally pull himself together he found there was no one there.

In fact, as soon as he noticed this, he looked around. There was no one anywhere. Kurogane was a little worried that he was going insane, but he was sure that he had ran into someone. Thinking that when he had run into them they had simply ran away, Kurogane picked himself up, dusted himself off, and proceeded to gather his things together. Afterwards he dashed into the school for fear of being late.

Only there was no one in the school either. Most peculiar, since the bell for classes to begin hadn't rung yet. During that time of day, the time between the first class and the time allotted to get your things put away, mostly everyone was in the hallways, talking to their friends or something of the like. Kurogane found this odd, but shook it off, saying to himself; "The bell's about to ring - they're all probably in class already." And he walked the few steps to his locker.

Kurogane was oblivious to the fact that something was wrong until he arrived at his first class to find no one there - not even the teacher. To rule out any rational possibility, Kurogane raced to every classroom in the hall and looked in all the offices, only to find no one. If his class was meeting elsewhere then the other classes would be there, and if the school day had been canceled then the principal and superintendent would have still had to be there. But no…the school was completely and utterly abandoned of life, except for Kurogane.

Or at least, that's what he thought. As he traveled through the deserted school after returning to his locker for his bag (but only bringing his personal books with him), he came upon a strange thing in the science room. Kurogane half expected it to turn out to be a science experiment gone horribly wrong and that it had eaten everyone, but it was to small and smiley for this possibility to work.

"I wonder what this white thing is doing here." Kurogane thought out loud. To his everlasting surprise, the thing actually answered him.

"Mokona is not a white thing. Mokona is Mokona. Mokona Modoki at your service!"

"Um, okay… Hey there, white thing, what happened to everybody?"

Mokona did not look pleased at Kurogane calling him a white thing again, so he only replied, "If Mokona is a white thing then you are a black thing."

"I'M NOT A BLACK THING!" Kurogane shouted, while thinking, _I've never been given lip by a white manjuu bun before…_

"It's common courtesy to introduce yourself before engaging in a conversation with someone you haven't met before."

Before answering, Kurogane inspected the 'white manjuu.' Its head was its body, it had little stubs for arms, the ears and feet of a rabbit, kept its eyes shut constantly, and there was a giant red gem in the middle of its forehead. Lastly it had a small gold earring on one ear with a red stone that seemed to be the same as the one on its forehead.

"Name's Kurogane." He said at last. "So where is everybody? Why isn't there anyone here?"

"What do you mean, Kuro-chan? I've been the only one here for ages."

Ignoring the thing's use of 'Kuro-chan' he continued, "What do you mean? There were just a lot of people here yesterday. And they should all be here today."

"Are you sick, Kuro-rin? (Kurogane glared at the white manjuu) Did you get bitten but a quetzalcoatl?"

"Ketsalkoatl? What? What the hell are you talking about you white manju bun?!"

Mokona looked concerned for a moment and regarded Kurogane. "You have no weapon? How did you make it all this way?"

"Weapon? Why would I carry around a weapon? I only live a couple blocks from the school. It's not like I'm gonna get mugged or anything, or arrested for carrying one." He said, not really caring for the manju bun much.

"Oh! Mokona gets it, Mokona gets it!" Makona proclaimed dancing around through the small room, bounding from desk to desk.

"Get WHAT you stupid little-" Kurogane attempted, losing his patience again, but Mokona cut him off.

"You just got here. You came all this was to get Mokona to make a weapon for you! I'll do it, Mr. Black."

"I NEVER SAID MY NAME WAS 'BLACK'!!!" Kurogane shouted as Mokona started glowing. Suddenly from it's back sprouted great white-feathered wings. It opened its black eyes and opened its mouth very wide. At this moment Kurogane was reconsidering ruling out that this white thing ate his classmates and everyone else in the school.

Then something started to come out of Mokona's mouth. When it was completely out of Mokona's mouth, Kurogane could see that it was a samurai sword with a black lacquered sheath and an ivory handle carved to look like a dragon. "I call it Ginryû, spelled with the kanji for silver and dragon. It's a present for you, Kuro-chi."

Now Kurogane, who was too busy marveling over the sword that the thing had just produced from its mouth to notice it's miss-use of his name, had seen quite a lot of swords, being part of the kendo team. But he swore that he had never seen one as high quality as this one in particular. It floated in the air in front of him until he grabbed it.

It was weighty, but not heavy, just as a samurai sword should be. And it was the perfect length for him. The ivory-carved dragon was really high quality too, _Even though, _Kurogane thought, _it's only for decoration. _The dragon, whose mouth was open as if to swallow something whole, or maybe in a mighty roar, was so detailed that you could make out every scale, and it's eyes seemed to shine as if it where truly awaiting to jump to life and devour it's prey. He unsheathed the blade and found that the sword fit perfectly into his hands, its silver colored hilt resting comfortably over his right hand. As he held it he could feel a strange aura resonating from it.

While Kurogane marveled over his new sword a saber-toothed panther stalked into the room.


	3. Chapter2: Anger like Fire, Eyes like Ice

Chapter 2: Anger like Fire, Eyes like Ice

While Kurogane marveled over his new sword a saber-toothed panther stalked into the room. It was large with pitch black fur. Its ivory teeth gleaming in the soft light entering from the windows. Quietly it stalked up behind Kurogane, savoring the smell of the meal to come. It pounced.

In his hands the sword grew hot. It almost burned to hold on to. Then, as if the sword had told him, swung behind him, succeeding in slicing the monster panther down the stomach, killing it.

"Wow Kuro-kun you must be a really good swordsman. You killed that erõ udyrin one swing!" Mokona proclaimed.

"I'm not that good. I was in the kendo club but that's just fighting on a high school level." Kurogane replied nonchalantly. "What exactly was that thing?" he asked not quite understanding the manju bun's words.

"I'll bet no one can challenge you Kuro-rin! You must have won every battle easy!" Mokona said bouncing around excitedly.

Ignoring the fact that the white pork bun was right about him winning every match he's ever been in, in under five minutes, Kurogane asked again, "What **was** that thing?"

"It was an erõ udyr (1). An armor beast. Its hide is said to be some of the best armor. Go claim it Kuro-pon."

"Claim? Claim what?" He asked staring at the dead creature in front of him.

Mokona replied, "The armor silly. You'll need that too. There are many more scary things in this land. If you don't have armor then you might get hurt. So go and grab onto the fur of the erõ udyr."

Under any other circumstances Kurogane would have never touched a dead animal, especially one that he had killed, since he never killed animals. Hell he'd never killed anything before! Unfortunately there he was in his school that was devoid of life except himself and a hyperactive white hopping manju bun, where he was attacked by an oversized saber-tooth black panther. All this was really working on his nerves. Grudgingly he stepped closer to the thing. He kneeled down next to it, really not wanting to touch the thing at all.

To Kurogane's surprise when his hand came in contact with the beast's fur it started glowing and quickly morphed to wrap around him. He had never felt anything so weird so obviously he was freaking out in every sense of the word. The glowing substance that the monster's corpse had become was now completely on Kurogane. From there it shifted and moved, making quite a few colorful curses fall from Kurogane's mouth.

Soon after though it settled into place and stopped glowing. When Kurogane looked down at his clothes he found himself covered in black with red trim. Around his shoulders was a black cloak. On his forehead was a black head piece as well. This was truly the garb of a warrior, and Kurogane found himself loving it. The armor felt sturdy but it was also surprisingly light. In clothes like this he had a grander freedom of movement then in any of his normal clothes.

From behind him came an, "OOOOOooooo" right before Mokona practically mugged him. "It looks so good on you Kuro-sama!" It shouted over and over as it bounded around Kurogane's body avoiding the now thoroughly pissed off teenager's wrath.

By the time Kurogane was tired of trying to catch Mokona, it had already inspected every aspect of his new armor. Sated for the moment Mokona jumped from his shoulder onto a nearby desk. Now looking seriously to Kurogane Mokona asked, "Kuro-tan you now have a weapon and armor so, where will you go?"

After the thing asked there was a small silence as Kurogane considered just saying going home. But so where _was_ home? He didn't even know where here was none-the-less how to get home. Luckily he had no need to answer the question as a new voice was heard. "He'll come with me of course."

Just from the voice Kurogane knew that the person that spoke was trouble. The exact opposite of anyone remotely close to someone he wanted to be close to, or even in the same country as. Irritated Kurogane rounded to face the direction he had heard the voice and said haughtily, "And just _who_ are you that can decide this for me?"

Someone tapped that back of his shoulder and said, "Pleased to meet you Mr. Black my name is Fai D. Flowrite." Enraged at being called 'Mr. Black' for the second time that day Kurogane turned around to face a tall (though not as tall as himself), lanky blonde haired male. Kurogane thought 'male' not 'boy' or 'man' because the person had a childish look to him but his eyes where different. His face was smiling but the bright smile didn't even begin to touch his icy blue eyes. Such a cold eyes could not be further from his own fiery scarlet eyes. This person looked as if they kept all their hardships inside whereas he turned them to aggression and let them burn out.

_Heh, fire and ice._ Kurogane thought to himself as he took in the black, white and blue outfit the blonde had on. The top was almost a Chinese style white tux. He had black pants and (boots?) on. He seemed to have black gloves on but it was hard to tell under his white and blue fluffy coat. _He must be dying under that thing._ Kurogane thought.

The blonde put on a fake scarred look and dramatically said, "Oh no! It would seem Mr. Black hates me. He's going to kill me and I don't' even know his name. All I did was try and give him a hand. fake sob I just wanted to bring him to the person that can send him back to his world."

Mokona joined in with a, "Kuro-chi you're so mean! Fai-kun here was just trying to help!"

Kurogane growled and said, "I never said I would kill you. You should know better than to decide things for total strangers. You even said as much yourself."

"But Kuro-rin I also said that I was just trying to help." Fai replied, the stupid grin back in place."

_God damn it now that manju bun has this goofy guy calling me these weird nicknames! _"And just how where you going to help me?" Kurogane barely scoffed out, feeling like he might hit the blonde if he said one more thing that sounded even remotely as ridiculous as before.

"Like I said Kuro-pon (Kurogane's eye twitched) I know someone that can help you get back to your own world. I can tell just by looking at you that you're not from here. I was passing by here to thank Mokona for such an amazing staff, when I saw you. I could tell you weren't from this world by the clothes and lack of weapon. This is a dangerous place here Kuro-pipi (another twitch) for someone to be here without a weapon or armor they'd have to be from another world since magic doesn't work here in the forest of silence. Then I thought that I'd like to help you get back to wherever you where before and I remembered that I know someone with that kind of power."

"And why would you do this for me?" Kurogane asked through gritted teeth. That nickname thing was really getting on his nerves.

"Because that's just the kind of person I am!" Fai piped with a (fake) bright smile on.

Kurogane carefully considered his options. He could (A) wander around this place forever trying to find a way back home or (B) he could travel with this person that he already knew he _hated_ and get home relatively quickly. He was seriously considering his first option when Fai, tired of waiting, grabbed his hand and started to pull him towards the door saying, "Well we'd better be off. Thank you again Moko-chan for the wonderful staff." He grabbed said staff that was leaning against the adjacent wall next to the door and started off down the hallway leaving Kurogane no room for argument.

A/N: Hey there sry for the late update, I'll try to get at least one chapter up a month. I hope you liked it my beta was on vacation and I didn't want to keep u waiting. Did u all enjoy how I dropped Fai-nii in there? Heh heh well anyways til next time! -

(1) Used with the Hungarian word for armor and Norwegian word for beast.


	4. Chapter 3 Always Together

A/N: AHA!! Ta has kept her promise by the skin of her teeth --U

Chapter 3: Together Always

"Oh, come on, Kuro-mu, you can't keep grumbling to yourself. Brighten up! You'll be back home in no time!" Fai practically sang to the grumbling ball of frustration that was Kurogane. The pair had been walking for quite some time in the dense forest that surrounded the run-down, church-like version of Kurogane's would-be school.

As soon as he ventured outside Kurogane got a look at the building he had just been in. It looked about ready to collapse, but the architecture was stunning. High towers and stained glass everywhere! There were no actual crosses and most of the glass was broken or just plain gone, but the structure was made entirely of stones and mortar. The all around effect was one of an old church.

At last Kurogane actually spoke, "Exactly how far do we have to go?"

Fai answered in his cheery voice, "We have to travel to a castle. We can see it after we cross over that mountain there." he said, pointing.

"WHAT!? We have to climb THAT THING??!?" Kurogane yelled.

"Oh Kuro-tan don't take it so hard. It really isn't very far if you think about it. There are places that are much farther away." Fai replied coolly, smiling.

"Stupid-ass cocky mage." was the only thing Kurogane could say to this.

And so they continued walking. And walking. And WALKING until Kurogane was lost, and it started to snow. The two travelers were fine, because of the fluffy coat and the heavy cloak, but Kurogane was beginning to see why Fai wore such a warm jacket. _We couldn't have walked more than twenty miles from the building and now it's snowing out of nowhere. Does this place always have such weather problems?_ Kurogane thought to himself. He had long ago abandoned the thought of grumbling to himself. The trip continued in silence for a while until Fai stopped suddenly.

"What's your deal?" Kuro asked, bumping into Fai. Fai shushed him and pointed to a bush nearby. In front of the bush were two heron.

"They must be in love." Fai said quietly, a slightly forlorn smile on his face. "It must be nice to have someone to be together with."

"Love is too troublesome to be any good." Kurogane said gruffly, turning away. "Everything we love, we lose. In the end, we all end up alone."

"I guess you're right." Fai replied, quietly looking down. After a couple seconds he jumped up and said, "Well, let's get going." with a cheerful smile on his face.

As they continued, day soon fell into night, and a harsh blizzard formed from the light snow that had started to fall.

That night the two took shelter in a cave in the middle of the woods. Fai managed to light a small fire near the back. Kurogane spent the rest of the night trying to figure out how he'd done it.

Soon dawn broke and the falling snow lightened up enough to allow the pair to continue traveling. Or so Fai said. Kurogane couldn't understand how they could travel when he couldn't see three feet ahead of him.

The morning was uneventful, and soon it was high noon. Kurogane was starting to get hungry.

"Hey mage, can you conjure up some food?"

"Whatever do you mean Kuro-chi? I can't just make things out of thin air, but if you're hungry, why don't we go hunt for something? There are plenty of animals around that are okay to eat."

Kuro didn't like the sound of that. Not only were they nowhere near being close to the mountain yet, but he had to hunt for his food? That prospect in itself seemed too offset to Kurogane. He had never hunted before in his life!

After the first couple of failed attempts he managed to get two field mice and a lark to cook and eat. When he had started cooking them with a fire he built himself and sheltered himself from the snow with some leaves, he turned to ask the wizard if he wanted any. Of course Fai was sitting under a tree eating some berries.

"Hey what are those?" Kurogane asked.

"They're ro-ten (1) berries Kuro-puu. Would you like to try some?" Fai asked, holding a berry out. Kurogane took the magenta colored berry from the mage. The berry itself was about the size of a blueberry and looked much like one except for the color. Kurogane hesitantly put the berry into his mouth.

And almost puked.

The taste that met his taste buds was much too sweet for his liking. Eating that one berry left a taste in his mouth like he swallowed twenty strawberry pixie stix in one gulp. He vowed there to never accept any food from the magician ever again.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Do you have any idea where you're going?" Kuro asked after about a three hour silence.

"Of course I do, silly. There's a village coming up soon. That village is right at the foot of the mountain. From there we can take a path that leads to a lake that's about halfway to the summit, and from there we can climb the rest of the way ourselves." Fai replied happily. Kurogane could hear the fake smile in his voice. He had yet to question why the damned-hyperactive-stupid-name-calling-sweet-toothed mage continued to smile when he clearly was not in the mood to. He hoped he wouldn't be with the man long enough for his curiosity to get the better of his patience.

As he was wondering this a young man with long dark hair, dressed in a soldier's armor, and without shoes came into view. As he approached it seemed he was heading in the same direction as the two men were. When he was more in view they could see he was armed with a bow and a quiver of arrows. He also appeared to be holding something.

Fai called out to him, "Excuse me sir? What is that you're holding?"

"Who are you? Whom do you fight for?" The youth replied.

"I am called Fai D. Flowrite. I fight for my king Ashura. What is your name, and what is that in your arms?" Fai asked again.

"My name is Sura (1) and I fight for Lord Omake of the Village of Ryoutou. I'm carrying a heron I shot earlier today." Sura replied.

"Why are you carrying it around with you?" Kurogane asked.

"It is a long story, my friends."

"We have time. Why don't we sit and talk? The snow seems to have lightened a little." Fai said. And so the three found a small overhang of trees where they had some shelter from the snow that continued to fall.

"My story is a tragic one. I live in the Village of Ryoutou under the rule of Lord Omake. In the village there is a girl so sweet and pure that even the nymphs come to see her. Her name is Yukino (1). I left for battle in hope that her father would accept me so that we may finally marry. I remember that day well. She told me that I favor the battle, and that there was no other reason that I would leave the one I love. The battle was terrible and by the end of it there was almost no one remaining. I wandered from that battlefield for many days without even seeing the sun to know my direction. It's because it snowed. Yukino told me that the falling snow is the tears of the snow princess, the goddess of snow. I continued walking until it felt as if all hope was lost.

"At that moment I spotted a pair of heron. In my spite and jealousy of their happiness I shot one of them. The one jumped in front of the other. I continued walking until I was ready to give up and let the snow burry me. I fell on something. It was the heron I shot. Only its head was gone.

"It hit me that I had been walking in circles all along. That was when the vision of a woman came to me. She was beautiful but she looked so sad. I believed her to be the angel of death. She said nothing only looked at me and pointed. She was holding something.

"When I could see it clearly, what she held so dear to her was a skull.

"I walked in the direction she indicated to me. I didn't care if it led to a village or to my own death but I continued. I regained my determination to live and see my beloved Yukino again, and so I hunted down a beast to feed on.

"The first thing I shot was this heron. Upon seeing it I remembered what I had done and wondered what fate befell the lover of the heron I shot. Then I found that this heron had something under its wing. It was a skull. It was the lover of the heron I had shot. It was carrying the bones of it's loved one all along. She was the woman who pointed me in this direction. Then I met the two of you. Pray tell where are you going?" Sura asked as his story came to a close.

"Why we're headed to the Village of Ryoutou." Fai replied happily.

Sura began to weep. Quietly he said to the dead heron in his arms, "I killed your lover… yet you saved me… you lead me back to my own love…"

The snow once again began to fall quickly.

Fai placed his hand on Sura's shoulder. He said nothing. Kurogane looked down, thinking of how the heron was noble indeed, and that she must have got in front of Sura's arrow to join its own love in death.

After a while Fai stood up and said, "Well let's continue shall we?" Kurogane and Sura stood and they walked in silence for about five miles. Each was burdened with their own thoughts until the village came slightly into view through the snow.

**A/N**: Ta-da!!! What do you think? I noticed in Tsubasa the lack of one of my favorite CLAMP one-shot manga Shirahime Syo: Snow Goddess Tales, and so I had to try and encompass them in the fan fiction. I thought; why not get it done now? So I did. The (1) means that these characters are from the third chapter of Shirahime Syo which is 'Hiyoku no Tori'. Originally Sura wasn't named. Or at least his name wasn't stated, so I made up his name. But it's the main guy that you follow through that story. Yukino was named and I tried to make Sura's tale like a summary of the story. Did I do good? Anyways, if you liked it, please review. I don't usually ask (don't know why…) but I have no reviews and I know that a lot of people read the last chapter cause most of you put it on your story alert list (I get an e-mail telling me so every time you do…) so please if you liked it, tell me, if you didn't like it, tell me how to do better, and if you hated it and want to flame me, I'll eat you alive (like Haseo lol (if u don't know go play .hack//g.u.)) either way I would appreciate some constructive criticism to help me write better. Love you all!

-Ta


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